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Growing Concerns Over Hoverboards

Ever since its release, the hoverboard quickly became one of the holidays' top must-haves. But the series of problems and concerns about it had prompted various retailers to stop its distribution.

The two-wheeled motorized scooters that became a viral hit over the past few months may soon meet their end. Over the course of a few months, dozens of incidents regarding the hoverboards have been reported in both the United States and United Kingdom. One of this particular cases happened just several weeks ago when a total of four fire trucks and 20 firefighters were called to stop a bedroom fire before it burns down a house in Southwark. During the investigation, it is revealed that the cause of the fire was the two-wheeled device that is left unattended while charging. Luckily, the occupant was able to escape unharmed.

The same thing happened in Louisiana just a few weeks ago when a hoverboard exploded and burned down a house, another incident where an exploding hoverboard was reported in the same state during the same week. Meanwhile, in New York, a gyro board became the reason for a significant amount of damage to a house. While at a mall, a scooter board caught on fire, forcing some buyers to evacuate the area.

Since then, the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission already logged 29 emergency room visits. It was also able to track 11 reports in 10 states. The growing number of incidents and people getting hurt prompted various famous retailers to pull out their stocks of the product. Amazon for one had ceased its distribution of the product up until their manufacturers prove that they are safe.

Another retailer called "Overstock" has decided to stop selling electric scooters all together just to assure the consumers' safety. Also, due to the steadily increasing amount of fire incidents involving hoverboards, various airlines such as American and Delta have also banned the product.

The problems regarding hoverboards may have been caused by their lithium-ion batteries. This kind of batteries are often found in mobile devices. They charge and overheat very fast that is also the main angle that every company is looking at for all the fire-related incidents that the hoverboards are involved with.